That voodoo that you do.

Long story short - After looking up the Urban Assault Ride series online and looking at their blog, I found out about, what looks to be, one of the sweetest (literally) stores on the planet - it's named Voodoo Donuts and is located in Portland, OR. Do I have to remind anyone how much I like donuts? And really all sugar-based or fried foods for that matter.

In any case, they have insane flavors, like:


Triple Chocolate Penetration, with Cocoa Puffs on top.


Bacon Maple Bar, with [duh] bacon on top. Yes, Craigers, bacon.


Dirty Snowballs, like the real ones, but dirty.


And for all you vegans, vegan friendly donuts, made with real vegans!

Portland seems like a very bike & donut friendly city. Lucky bastards. I'm going to have to find out for myself one day.

I don't make jokes.

There are some days when the bike industry almost doesn't seem real. I'm sure some of you feel like this in your industry, but maybe not everyone? Well, for those that don't get to see what I get to see, here's some product examples from the bike industry - all are fo' real!

Just woke up?

Cove "Stiffee" MTB frame. This is just a warm-up.

Need a handlebar for your BMX bike?

Failure Roseanne Bars. Man, did we watch the heck out of Roseanne... the whole family liked it.

And to finish it up....

POW "Shocker" Gloves. If you don't know what this is, good. If you do, keep it to yourself. If you know Najah or Christine, please forward the t.c blog address.

And if you really think any of this is a joke, just click on the hyperlink and purchase it.
[na-na-na-na-nah!]

UVA / UVB.

I know I need to protect my eyes, but with Rx glasses costing so much, these almost begin to look good - HD WrapArounds. It reminds me of grandparents and uncles though... maybe I'm not old enough to wear these?

Help me.

Results, Poll #19, Swimmin'.

Wow, swimming really brings out all the responses, 17 this week - back up to acceptable levels. I thought with the weather getting a little nicer (it was 80 here in MKE last weekend, even if only for mere hours) that people might start thinking about swimming. I know as the temps rose, my thoughts turned to pool fun as a kid. Swimming was probably the best way to get all 5-7 of us out of the house, and it was lucky then that we had a pool (nothing fancy, just 18' in diameter and 4' above ground). Never the less, it was fun all summer. We often spent most of the day in our trunks. Swimming, sunning, eating, and then back to swimming (even at night on occasion).

Anyways, here's how it washed out this week:
> 8 people (27%) chose "1" suit - maybe we all need one more?
> 5 people (44%) chose "2-4" suits - ooh-la-lah, fashion plates!
> 2 people (11%) chose "4-6" suits - I'm going to need pics of all of them, b/c you better be a knockout to own that many swimming suits.
> 1 person (5%) chose "7+" suits - I didn't know supermodels read my blog. And if this is a guy, stop reading my blog.
> 1 person (5%) chose "No swimming for me" - well, that's a shame, you should learn now, seriously it's fun, like a big bath without the soap.

PS - no one noticed (or at least told me) that I used the number four on two of the choices. My bad.

Hey batter, batter!!!

Hit the local ballpark for some fun the other night. This was a worktrip, which is just about the only way I can justify going, what with being a lifelong Cubs fan and all. Of course, Miller Park can't hold a candle to Wrigley, but not many can and almost none try. The best thing about Wrigley is probably its history and age... which is the exact opposite for Miller Park.

This park feels brand-spankin new and has many features that you don't get in the old, comfy ballparks. Tailgating (including bbq-ing), TONS of food and drink choices with locations all around the park (did someone say "churro"?), super views from almost anywhere (see the pics?), fancy LED signage (oooh), cool "club level" and box seating (if you can afford it), etc.

But I suppose a baseball mitt makes a good analogy for baseball parks. Sure, you can look cool with your new mitt and break it in over the years, catching balls all along... but there's nothing like that totally broken-in, molded-to-your-hand feel of the mitt you've been using since you were a kid.

Who's planning a Wrigley trip with me?

For the birds.

In my never-ending quest to find highlights in MKE for myself and everyone, I have stumbled upon the Schlitz Audubon Nature Preserve. This is only about 10 miles from my apartment, with a very scenic drive (or ride) between.

As the name implies, this is supported by the Schlitz family and, as one would expect from "beer money", the place is very well done. Great facilities, 6 miles of hiking/walking trails, and wonderful way to be "in nature" right in the 'burbs. It's also right on the lakefront... could be a great way to explore for the day... after gearing up at Cabella's!

Results, Poll #18, CC Debt.

[remember these old things?]

I went onto Google to find a bit of background info for this post. I wanted to find out what an American's average credit debt amount usually is - this took a little bit of time, finding very easily that it's said to be about $8-9k. However, this figure is tossed out only by dividing America's total credit debt amount by the number of American's holding credit cards... not really the best average, or representative of normal folks. Googling a little deeper (that's what she said), I found these statistics, which came from much better reasoning (imo) -

• Only 29% of households owe $1,000 or more on their cards.
  
• 21% owe $2,000 or more.
  
• 6% owe $8,000 or more.
  
• 4% owe $10,500 or more.
  
• 1% owe $21,400 or more.

About 55% of all households pay off their CCs monthly and do not carry a balance. Of those remaining people (~45%) that do not pay off their card(s), the median balance is roughly $1,900. This seems a lot better/believable than $8-9k.

And here's the results from my poll:

> 1 person (7%) chose "$1-999" - stay low, pay it off!
> 0 people chose "$1000-2499"
> 2 people (14%) chose "$2500-4999" - uh-oh, leave 'em at home!
> 1 person (7%) chose "$5000-7499" - put 'em in the freezer!!
> 0 people chose "$7500-9999"
> 1 person (7%) chose "$10,000+" - cut them all up!!!
> 9 people (64%) chose "None" - show offs.

All in all, t.c readers are ahead of the curve that America's drawing with spending habits. This is good news. And to all of you with no CC debt, I hate you (ok, not really).